Madison Paige is one of the four playable characters (the other 3 being Ethan Mars, Norman Jayden, and Scott Shelby) and one of the three main protagonists in Heavy Rain. Madison is a young journalist living alone in the city. Suffering from crippling insomnia and nightmares, she often finds herself checking into local motels for the night-- the only place she can relax and sleep in. She is also the star of The Taxidermist, the first DLC for Heavy Rain.

Madison's likeness is played by the British model Jacqui Ainsley. Dialogue and facial motion capture is done by the American actress Judi Beecher.

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Little is known about Madison's life before the events of the game -- in fact, in a developer video that explained some plot holes in the game, it is even admitted by the narrator that Madison is one of the game's most enigmatic characters. It's stated during the game that she was born on May 3rd 1984, making her 27 years old during the events of the game which is set in October 2011. She does explain to Ethan, however, that she grew up with several brothers and would always be the one to tend to their injuries whenever they got into trouble. She also states she has had insomnia since she was a little girl. If Madison goes to the warehouse alone in "The Old Warehouse" chapter, she may tell the Origami Killer (who she knew at the time to have had a troubled past with their parents) that there is nothing harder than not being loved by one's parents, suggesting she may have had a bad relationship with her father or mother.

Madison is introduced in the 11th chapter of the game, Sleepless Night, the latest of any initial appearance. She wakes up at 2 a.m., tired and suffering from insomnia. She notices a series of strange ongoings in her apartment as if someone is there. Suddenly, a gang of robbers appear and ambush Madison. Madison will always end up being defeated by them, and will "die" -- before this is all revealed to be a nightmare.

Madison will then check into the Cross Road Motel in the First Encounter. She meets Ethan Mars for the first time in this chapter, and tends to his wounds from The Bear. She later nurses him again after his wounds from The Butterfly. In Fugitive, Madison must help Ethan escape from Carter Blake and Norman Jayden; failure to do so will result in Ethan being imprisoned (only to be broken out by Norman later). During these chapters, Madison will learn about the Origami Killer, and begins seeing how he has forced Ethan to do a series of trials for his son's sake. She now begins her own investigation into the killer.

She confronts The Doc, Adrian Baker, who is the legal owner of The Lizard's apartment location. Unfortunately, Madison will engage in a fight with The Doc -- in which she can end up killed -- if she doesn't find the evidence she is looking for and gets out. Whether she fights The Doc or not, she will find evidence pointing her in the direction of Paco Mendez at the Blue Lagoon. In Sexy Girl, Madison will go to Paco's office, and she will have no choice but to strip tease (at least one article of clothing). Madison cannot die in this chapter. She will also appear briefly at the start of Norman's chapter Fish Tank if she is alive.

In Ethan's chapter On the Loose, if she is alive, Madison will appear and sit with and discuss with Ethan about how he did or didn't kill a man to save Shaun Mars. Either way, Ethan will have the choice of kissing Madison. If he doesn't, Ethan will push Madison away, who promptly leaves. If he does kiss her, then they make love. Ethan wakes up the next morning and finds that Madison has taken photos and started a story about him as the possible origami killer (thus learning she is a journalist). After hearing Madison claim that she was planning to quit after seeing the emotion in the story, Ethan can either reject or forgive her. Either way, Madison leaves the building, and notices Carter Blake and the cops outside. She can either get on her bike and exit or call Ethan from the motel. Ethan will then proceed to be arrested or not.

In Ann Sheppard (chapter), Madison goes to visit Ann Sheppard who is suffering from Alzheimer's. Either way, she will be able to get her to divulge the Origami Killer's identity, Scott Shelby. She will then go over to his apartment in Killer's Place. She will go into her secret room, and must find out the password to find Shaun. After finding Shaun's address, Scott finds Madison, pointing a gun at her and forces her back to the room and will set the place ablaze, forcing Madison to find a way out. Staying in the fire too long, or jumping out of the first two windows seen will kill her. The player must jump out of the safety window or hide in the fridge in order to survive. If she finds the address, she will get the ability to inform either Ethan or Norman about it.

What happens in the game's final chapter, The Old Warehouse, if Madison makes it, depends on whether she arrived alone, with Norman and/or Ethan. Then, Madison will get an ending.

Square One - Madison sits in her apartment, her chronic insomnia having had worsened fully.

Ethan's Grave - If Madison survives in The Old Warehouse, Madison will be seen mourning near his grave.

A New Life - Ethan and Madison (now married) and Shaun all walk into their new apartment. Madison tells Ethan that the three of them have earned the right to be happy and that together they will try to forget the horrible things that happened to them, as if they were only a bad dream. Then watches Ethan play with Shaun.

Tears in the Rain - Ethan and Madison stand near Shaun's grave, depressed. She begs Ethan to rebuild his life with her, claiming that they could go to a place where it never rains, and that she would like him to give her a child. After asking her to give him a few more minutes to say goodbye to his son, Madison walks away to wait for him in the car, and Ethan shoots himself. The camera zooms out as she cries helplessly over his body.

Madison Paige is similar to Carla Valenti from Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit, they both are the female protagonists of the story and both are investigating the main protagonists criminal events.

When Madison checks into the Cross Road motel in the First Encounter, the receptionist states that her age is 27. It's confirmed during the scene at the Blue Lagoon with Norman Jayden discovering her prints on the crime scene with her biography indicating that she was born in 1984. However, if Madison dies at any time during the course of the game, the gravestone in the ending "Dead Heroine" states that she was born in 1981, making her 30 years old in 2011 (the year the game takes place).

There are three points during the game which display Madison with some degree of nudity -- a shower scene in her apartment, a stripping scene at the Blue Lagoon, and a potential sex scene with Ethan Mars. Only her breasts and buttocks are shown. There is also a glitch where she, occasionally, will accidentally load her naked model.

Madison Paige is modeled on Jacqui Ainsley, an English model, and voiced and the facial motion capture by Judi Beecher, an American actress. For the DLC episode "The Taxidermist," she is voiced by Barbara Scaff, who also voiced Carla Valenti and Tiffany Harper in Indigo Prophecy, David Cage's previous game.

While in various points of the game, Madison mentions she's both a journalist and a photographer, but she never uses the term "photojournalist."

Madison Paige is 5' 6".

The Taxidermist is the only episode of Heavy Rain Chronicles to be released; it has since been discontinued. Some of them were meant to explain how Madison got her insomnia.

Madison apparently works for The American Tribune.

In Fish Tank, Norman looks into Madison's fingerprint info and says that she was born in Columbus, Ohio and her parents' names are Robert and Linda Paige.

One of her best sources and friends is Sam, an informant heard from multiple times in both the game and DLC, though he never appears on screen.

In the ending 'Heroine' when Glen Sanders states her name the subtitles incorrectly state that her name is "Madison Page".

She is the only main character to not appear in Chapter 1.

Madison fights the least of the four main characters, except for Ethan. She fights The Robbers, The Doc, Scott Shelby (optional), and Leland White (optional).

It is revealed in several deleted scenes for the game that Madison was a reporter during the Iraq war. The horrors she experienced apparently caused her insomnia.

In the chapter The Old Warehouse, Madison is the only one not to bring a gun.

When Ann Shepard reveals the identity of the Origami Killer to Madison (Scott Shelby), Madison reacts with shock, as if she knows Scott, although she doesn't meet Scott in the game until the chapter Killer's Place. However, it is very much possible that they knew each other at some point before the game's setting, possibly in Scott's chapter in the Heavy Rain Chronicles, which is currently unreleased.

She appears in 11 chapters, the lowest of the 4 main characters.

She is also playable in 10 of these chapters as she is non-playable in Fish Tank.

She can also be partly playable in The Old Warehouse if she has survived up to that point and if she goes to the warehouse.

3 of the epilogues are based around her. She also appears in 3 of Ethan's epilogues.

If you count her appearance in Ethan's epilogues, she appears in the second most epilogues with 6 (behind Ethan with 7 epilogues).

Madison and Lauren Winter are the only female characters in Heavy Rain who can kill someone (mainly Scott Shelby).

If Madison survives in Killer's Place, once in the street, Madison will call Ethan or Norman or chooses to go the Warehouse alone. It is unknown how Madison has Norman's number in her cellphone and the fact that she never meets Norman face-to-face or talk with him. However, they appear in the same chapters, Fugitive and Fish Tank, but they never meet face-to-face. The only time they can meet in person is The Old Warehouse, if Ethan doesn't make it. However, having identified her as a witness to the death of Paco, it may be possible that he at least called her to discuss the murder and see if she knew anything about the Origami Killer.

She is the only playable character who at first isn't involved with the Origami Killer cases. Ethan Mars is the father of the Origami Killer's latest potential victim, Norman Jayden is called specifically to deal with the Origami Killer cases, and Scott Shelby is the Origami Killer himself.

She is implied to be either an atheist or agnostic, or at least was during the events of The Taxidermist, as one of her thoughts is "If I believed in God, this would be a time to start praying". Interestingly, this might be a reference to the player, as the player is responsible for the outcome of this DLC.

Madison is the only main character who is not playable for more than one chapter at a time, unless she survives in Killer's Place and makes it to The Old Warehouse.

She owns a Beretta 3032 Tomcat, which she keeps in her purse.

Madison is the only one of the four main characters who at no point in the game will have a scene where they are trapped in a car that is about to be destroyed.

Images of an early model showed Madison with long blonde hair, tied back into a ponytail, not dissimilar to Jacqui Ainsley's real life hairstyle. This was before her hair was eventually updated to the shorter darker look.